


Playing a Classic: Like Father Like Daughter

by jeneralreading



Category: Let's Play (Webcomic)
Genre: F/M, Ruminate, Video Game, mother-daughter bonding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-07
Updated: 2021-02-07
Packaged: 2021-03-12 15:47:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,377
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29263002
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jeneralreading/pseuds/jeneralreading
Summary: Hannah asks Sam about how her and Ben met as they decorate Valentine's Day cookies, then asks Sam if she can play Ruminate.
Relationships: Marshall Law/Sam Young (Let's Play)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 8





	Playing a Classic: Like Father Like Daughter

“Mom, tell me again how you and Dad fell in love,” said Hannah with a dreamy gaze as she gently spread a glob of pink frosting across a heart-shaped cookie. Their finished Valentine’s day cookies sat pristinely on a long plate between them, an array of heart-shaped sugar cookies made with Sam’s personal recipe adorned with pink butter-cream frosting and ruby sprinkles.

“Well honey, it started with the first game I ever made,” sighed Sam with a smile as she delicately placed her finished cookie beside the others. “I’d started working on it in college and was able to finish it up just as I started working at Grandpa’s company. Your dad was a ViewTube game reviewer at the time.”

“ViewTube?” Hannah interrupted. “What was that again?”

“It was a video-sharing platform that was really popular back then. It’s been gone for a while now, but it used to be the best place to post and watch home-made videos. Your dad made videos where he’d record himself playing a game as he talked about it.” Hannah nodded absent-mindedly, clearly not connecting the dots. Sam sighed, filing it away as just another “Back in my day!” example and continued with her story.

“Anyways, he picked up my game by chance, it was free at the time, and played it terribly. He skipped through the instruction screen and just started attacking everything, and of course died immediately. I mean who does that, skips the instructions? Isn’t that the point of a game?” Sam’s cheeks tinted as she felt her old frustration welling up inside her. She took a deep breath and shoved it back down as Hannah watched with a grin.

“That does sound like Dad, he likes to rush into things without reading first if he’s excited about something,” Hannah snickered as she placed her finished cookie beside Sam’s.

“It really is,” said Sam with a grin as her anger melted away. “So, after your father died, he was pretty upset. He ranted about how the game was bad for a bit before ending his review, which resulted in his fans giving my game a ton of negative feedback. The website I’d posted it on pulled my ability to post new games, and it was all a bit of a mess. Coincidentally, this is when your father moved into the apartment next door, and let me tell you, I was furious.”

“I couldn’t tell,” giggled Hannah as she grabbed a new cookie.

“I eventually let him have it, really yelled at him and told him how wrong he was and how it hurt me. He felt really bad, and at first he tried to pay me for it.” 

“He tried to pay you?” Hannah laughed as she stuck her knife into the large bowl of frosting.

“Yeah, and he was really adamant about it. I eventually nailed him in the face with the envelope of cash he kept trying to give me and he got the picture that I really didn’t want that money.”

“I’m not gonna lie, that sounds hilarious.”

“It was,” Sam chuckled. “Even though I didn’t accept the money, I did eventually get him to re-review my game, and correctly that time. He ended up loving it, which was really hard for him because he felt so terrible about all the trouble his negative review caused me. He even ended up in the hospital because his heart stopped for a moment.”

“Yeah, I remember that story,” said Hannah sadly. “It’s why Dad has to be careful with his heart health and get check ups every once in a while, right?”

“That’s right,” smiled Sam sadly. “I’m just glad I was there to help him that day. I don’t know what my life would have been without him.”

“Well for starters, we wouldn’t be here decorating Valentine’s day cookies now would we Mom?” said Hannah with a grin as she patted the back of Sam’s hand. Sam smiled in return and nodded.

“Say do you still have that old game, what’s it called?”

“Ruminate, and yeah I do.”

“Can I...play it sometime?” asked Hannah sheepishly. “I’ve played most of your other games, but I haven’t gotten the chance to play that one.”

“Sure honey, I think I’ve still got it saved somewhere,” said Sam. “I’ll get it to you after we finish decorating the rest of these cookies.”

“Awesome, thanks Mom!” chimed Hannah happily as she quickened her decorating pace.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Later that evening, Hannah sat bundled on the couch, her laptop resting softly on her curled-up legs, the Ruminate splash screen spread across the laptop screen before her. She smiled as she swiped the mouse over the start button, then dove into the game.

She couldn’t put it down, the logical twists and turns of the adventure game snaring her deeper into the story as she puzzled her way through each plot point. The werewolves she ended up giving to the witch to care for, which in turn helped the witch keep kat-kins away from her catnip garden. She persuaded the lonely bridge troll to take care of the kat-kins that now had nowhere to go by helping him grow a catnip garden, which left her feeling warm and fuzzy as she watched the troll snuggle the adorable kat-kins.

“Awww, Mom made such a cute game!” Hannah said quietly to herself as she nestled further into the pillows behind her. She felt the tug of sleep pull at her eyelids, but she was invested at this point. She couldn’t tear herself away from the game until she’d beaten it.

She visited the kat-kin vendor she’d met in the beginning of the game, which had given her a lousy letter opener, and bought something a little more useful: a lute! The cute guitar-shaped instrument had a cat’s paw for the sound hole. She soon joined up with a knight who clearly needed her help, though she couldn’t understand what they were saying beneath their helmet, which turned out to be a quest to take care of a dragon that Hannah swore looked very similar to Mom’s old dog Bowser.

Hannah tried using her letter opener, which magically morphed into a glowing blue sword half-way through the fight, but then paused. She hadn’t killed anything in her entire playthrough up to this point, and with the dragon looking just like her Mom’s lovable dog, should she try to kill it with this new-found weapon. Instead, she tried interacting with the lute. It worked! The dragon became a giant, snuggly, dragon-dog thing as it listened happily to the music. Hannah smiled as she watched the dragon settle down beside her character, but then frowned as she popped back into the overworld.

“What else could I have left to do?” she asked herself. Then suddenly, it came to her. The ghost she’d seen glimpses of at the corner of the screen throughout her playthrough, she hadn’t interacted with it at all yet. Sure enough, the ghost sat on the edge of the forest, watching her with a serene sadness. She followed the ghost, who led her through a twisting, dark forest to a sad skeleton curled on the ground, still wrapped in clothing.

“Oh, she needs to be buried properly to be at peace,” she said as she looked at the items in her inventory. She tried the letter-opener-turned-sword, which magically morphed into a shovel, which allowed her character to bury the bones. Still, no end credits, nothing to indicate that the quest was complete. The final item in her inventory was the wooden sword she’d picked up at the very beginning of the game. Curious, she clicked on it. The sword turned out not to be a sword, but a wooden cross. For a grave.

The ghostly woman embraced her as she slowly faded from existence. The credits rolled immediately, displaying the game’s name once again with her mother’s name and the name of the woman who’d done all the art. Hannah smiled as she watched the credits roll, then started as the last line scrolled into view. Mom had dedicated the game to Dad, before they’d ever met in person.

“Mom you’re such a dork,” said Hannah with tearful eyes as she gently snapped her laptop closed.


End file.
